It finally happened - I saw Naomi Klein in person! We made our way to Ramallah to see her speak as part of the Shock Doctrine being published in both Hebrew and Arabic and at the invitation of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Campaign National Committee. Essentially, this is calling for the boycotting of Israeli products, divesting Israeli companies, and imposing sanctions on Israeli until the end of the occupation - a strategy very similar to that of South Africa. Naomi spoke a lot about the comparison of the Israeli and South African apartheid regimes, and noted that although they are not necessarily identical, the definition of apartheid was created after South Africa to ensure that all apartheid regimes, and not just those identical to South Africa (which is essentially impossible because each state is unique), would be recognized and abolished.
Noami outlined two main reasons that Israel currently has no interest in peace: the first is that its people are able to comfortably live a normal and fun life with no repercussions of the "war" being experienced by them. Secondly, and probably most importantly, is that Israeli companies are not feeling the financial pinch of war that often accompanies wartime, and they are therefore not pressuring the government to stop. There is actually a large sector of the economy that is profiting significantly from Israel's "homeland security" measures, as Palestine is essentially being used as a test laboratory for security products that are later exported to other countries. As the violence towards Palestine has increased over the last three years profit has increased - within the first eight months of 2008 exports to Canada from Israel went up 45%, and within the first seven days of the assault on Gaza the trade index in Tel Aviv went up 10.7%. Profitability is clearly a large factor as to why the focus in Israel is on security and not on peace.
The question arose as to whether or not the BDS tactic would hurt Palestinians. The thoughts on this were as follows: firstly, black South Africans were also hurt during the South African boycott, but most understood it to be temporary and as a tool for their liberation. Palestinians have suffered enough, and many believe that they can suffer a bit more as long as they can see the end of the tunnel. But secondly, and probably most importantly, is that the call to use the BDS tactic has come from Palestinians themselves and is overwhelming supported in Palestine. It is paternalistic and against the principles of solidarity for us as outsiders to deny their request because we are worried about the negative affects it would have on them. If this is what they feel will help most, then we should assist them in any way possible.
Today, some of us went to Jenin, a city and a refugee camp side by side in the north of the West Bank. The refugee camp was the site of the battle during the second intifada from April 3 to 11 2002, wherein 350 houses were demolished and 65 Palestinians were killed, some by being in their house when it was bulldozed. Israel claimed that the reason for the attack was that several suicide bombers had used the camp as a base. While I've been reading that Jenin at the time wasn't a very conservative place, the posters of martyrs and militia that were plastered all over the camp suggested to me that Jenin already was or has become somewhat extremist in its views. I have to wonder if the case would be different if the occupation did not exist. This is not to say that suicide bombings are ever permissable, but could at least some of them have been prevented if Palestine was given the soveriegnty and respect it deserves?
Day 37 - June 26, 2009
The past three days have been a whirlwind of activities. I spent Wednesday doing almost every major touristy thing possible, which entailed walking in the scorching heat for six hours straight. One of the more interesting sites I saw was the Western Wall tunnels tour, a rather controversial tour because of it's very obvious pro-Israel stance. It was actually quite intriguing, as there is significantly more to the Western Wall than is visible from the outside, and on the tour you can see the entir
e thing. I also really enjoyed it because normally there is a hefty fee to take the tour and tickets have to be booked in advance, but I found a nice tour guide who helped sneak me in for free! My favourite part of the tour was probably when the guide explained that the Dome of the Rock was built to ensure that Jewish refugees could never return - while that is probably somewhat true, the lack of the explanation that the Dome and the mosque beside it are two of the holiest sites in Islam was rather bothersome.
Thursday brought one of my favourite times of year - Pride! Pride in Jerusalem is usually a point of contention in the city because of the conservative nature of many of the Jewish citizens, however we were met with very few protesters. This was in part due to the very heavy police presence that sectioned off the protesters to an area which was not in our view - it was really nice to be protected by police instead of monitored by them for once! Elias (pictured left, and I'm not quite sure what he's doing but as always he looks cute) is part of a samba band that let me play with them, and I picked it up quite quickly! My female friend Iah, who wears a kippa, was there with her girlfriend Caroline and they were pretty much mobbed by photographers. All in all it was a really great day.
e thing. I also really enjoyed it because normally there is a hefty fee to take the tour and tickets have to be booked in advance, but I found a nice tour guide who helped sneak me in for free! My favourite part of the tour was probably when the guide explained that the Dome of the Rock was built to ensure that Jewish refugees could never return - while that is probably somewhat true, the lack of the explanation that the Dome and the mosque beside it are two of the holiest sites in Islam was rather bothersome.Thursday brought one of my favourite times of year - Pride! Pride in Jerusalem is usually a point of contention in the city because of the conservative nature of many of the Jewish citizens, however we were met with very few protesters. This was in part due to the very heavy police presence that sectioned off the protesters to an area which was not in our view - it was really nice to be protected by police instead of monitored by them for once! Elias (pictured left, and I'm not quite sure what he's doing but as always he looks cute) is part of a samba band that let me play with them, and I picked it up quite quickly! My female friend Iah, who wears a kippa, was there with her girlfriend Caroline and they were pretty much mobbed by photographers. All in all it was a really great day.
And today was my second and probable final shabbat in Jerusalem. Before shabbat began, however, I was finally able to find a really good bagel place (my first bagel experience here was terrible - it looked like the thing had been run over by a truck, AND they put olives on it - for anyone that knows me, they know that is a big no-no). For shabbat dinner we went to Rebecca's friend Jessica's house in Rehavia for a massive feast with about 15 people. Tomorrow I'm heading to Ramallah to see Naomi Klein, and then off to a few more days of travelling in the West Bank!
Day 34 - June 23, 2009
Yesterday at the lovely hour of 4am, Rebecca and I headed to the Bethlehem checkpoint to do checkpoint watch with a friend of hers, Debs, who is from South Africa and is here for 3 months working with the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel, which has been monitoring checkpoints for eight years. Every morning two individuals from this NGO monitor the checkpoint, both by counting how many people go through and how quickly (stats which are then sent to the UN), and by intervening when problems arise between soldiers and the Palestinians attempting to go through. Most of the individuals going through the checkpoint are men who work in Israel. The checkpoint opens at 5am, however there are over 2500 people that go through everyday, so people start lining up at 1am every morning and sleep on cardboard boxes in the jail-like queue they have to stand in - there are usually 800 already lined up by 4:30am. There is a "humanitarian" queue for the elderly, women, emergency workers and tourists, which means that they don't have to stand in line with the men and generally get through faster. To go through any checkpoint into Israel, one must have a permit, however only 15 000 of the four million Palestinians living in the West Bank have been able to obtain one.
The checkpoint is set up as follows: there are two lines, one with the men (who are in a surrounded by a long metal gate on the sides and top, with openings only at distant ends), and the humanitarian line. Beginning at 5am, a soldier lets only a few from each line go and will then close the turnstyles (which are significantly smaller than international standards) abruptly, often causing the hurried men to crash into them. Once the individuals do get through, they literally run over to the next terminal where they again wait in lines to go through a metal detector, even though most of them were only carrying their lunches. The solider patrolling the metal detector that I went through was asleep. There are three metal detectors present, but only two were being used, as is apparently normal and sometimes there is only one in use. Because some had missed morning prayers because they were crammed in the earlier metal gates, many men pray in the terminal. We watched as a soldier patrolled the area, often on beams overtop the Palestinians. In this terminal there are no bathrooms - one must either go back and have to wait in line again, or wait until he or she finally makes it out. Once through the metal detector, they must again wait in line to show another soldier their permits and be fingerprinted. Beside them in this third line are Israel tourism posters reading such things as "Israel - where it's vacation time all year round." I found the irony amusing and nauseating at the same time. Debs said that at this point permits are sometimes taken away for hours for seemingly no reason, being given back eventually with no explanation.
While Rebecca and I were talking about what we were seeing, she said what I was having trouble putting into words - Israel can put a checkpoint in place if it were a border crossing and Palestine was an independent state, or if Palestine is supposedly part of Israel, then the crossing should be without restrictions. But to have the checkpoint as-is is dehumanizing. At times I felt like I was on a cattle farm, watching the cows be herded. People should not be treated like this.
I slept until early afternoon and then finally did some touristy stuff - I walked the walls of the old city and saw the Wailing Wall. After dinner we saw an open air performance of Rent which was amazing, especially since a friend I've met here choreographed it. We then went to the best drag show EVER, which was made even better by the fact that it's Pride week in Jerusalem and the crowd was out in huge numbers. Pride is a very controversial subject in Jerusalem, so I'm really looking forward to the parade on Thursday.
Today I bussed across the city to Yad Vashem, or the Holocaust museum. The thought that such hatred can exist in the world was hard to take in, and to comprehend how such a thing was able to take place was impossible. The paranoia and fear of another Holocaust taking place is what fuels a large part of Israel's need to "defend" itself, and seeing this museum helped me to better understand the thought process of those committing modern day crimes against Palestine. And while nothing compares to what happened to the Jews and so many other groups under the Nazi regime, a few times it struck me - do they not see the similarities in what is happening today? The talking of random shootings and ghettos and systemic violence - isn't this what is happening now? In one of the videos a man, after talking about not stealing bread and then going hungry during the Holocaust, said "I will never again make the mistake of being moral. This is the jungle, and in the jungle, only predators survive." I really thought that spoke volumes to what so much of the current conflict is based on. I know that my opinion on comparing the Palestine/Israel conflict to the Holocaust is controversial, and I by no means think that they are of nearly the same magnitude. But I do truly believe that some of the similarities cannot be ignored and am surprised that they are not recognized by more people.
Day 32 - June 21, 2009
I have spent the last few days wandering Jerusalem. Friday evening was the beginning of shabbat, which was a wonderful experience. I went to a synagogue for the first time, and although I had no idea what anyone was saying or why they were doing what they were doing, there was something quite beautiful about it. Amidst the conflict of Israel, there is true beauty to be found in the Jewish faith.
We then had a traditional shabbat dinner at Rebecca's (well, as traditional as you can get with a vegan dinner). There were people from all over the world - South Africa, America, Brazil, Canada, and of course Israel. There were all different points of view on the conflict, and although we tried to avoid the subject, having one person working at ICAHD and another working at a right-wing think tank sitting beside each other, it was bound to come up. For the most part though it was a very peaceful (and delicious!) dinner. The guests stayed until 4am, with some staying over, as is tradition since it is not permissable to drive a vehicle (and because Jeff lives in Ramallah, which although very close in distance, would take hours to get to through the checkpoints at that time of night).
The next day was a perfect shabbat - we woke up at 1:30, had "breakfast" at 3:30, and then proceeded to take a nap. What a perfect day! That night we met up with Marvin and his Canadian friend for coffee in the German Colony, which I'm really confused as to why it's called that because it's filled with Americans.
Today I spent some time in the commercialized Ben Yehuda area and then headed down to the old city for the "Jerusalem Hug." It was quite the hippie event (which of course I loved) and began with songs in Arabic, Hebrew and English and we then made a banner of painted handprints to symbolize our solidarity with each other. We all then "hugged" the old city wall by holding hands. I was holding the hand of a beautiful little Palestinian girl from Hebron who was quite shy in using her English to talk to me but we communicated quite well. At the hug I ran into Flore, our photographer who had been arrested at the protest, and I was so excited! We grabbed dinner at a burger place, and I still was unable to find a place that will make me a cheeseburger - I'm now on a mission! I'm now staying up all night to do checkpoint watch tomorrow morning.
Day 29 - June 18, 2009
We spent the night at the Ein Gedi youth hostel which is in Israel proper, on the Dead Sea. Michelle and I attempted to go to Jericho yesterday, but after making it to Abu Dis and waiting in a service taxi for over an hour (as the taxi has to be full before it will leave), and having the driver ask us if we were married and / or looking more than a few times, we decided to head back to Jerusalem and take a bus to Ein Gedi to meet the boys. We immediately headed to the Dead Sea, and it HURT! I had so many mosquito bites, some still from Cairo and many from Tent of Nations (I counted 92 in total) but afterwards they felt great! The Dead Sea is so strange, we just bobbed around and I could "stand" straight up in the water and still be floating comfortably.
This morning we headed again down to the Dead Sea and then to Masada, where in 73 BC 960 Jewish rebels committed mass suicide as an alternative to being captured by the Romans and becoming slaves. It's atop a tall mountain, but Sascha and I were lazy and took the cable car up and down. As luck would have it, I took a huge fall as soon as I reached the top and badly scraped my knees and hands, something I haven't done since I was a child. Luckily, we weren't going to the Dead Sea again!
I am now staying again at Rebecca's, probably for at least another week. I will continue to update as I go with my new adventures!
This morning we headed again down to the Dead Sea and then to Masada, where in 73 BC 960 Jewish rebels committed mass suicide as an alternative to being captured by the Romans and becoming slaves. It's atop a tall mountain, but Sascha and I were lazy and took the cable car up and down. As luck would have it, I took a huge fall as soon as I reached the top and badly scraped my knees and hands, something I haven't done since I was a child. Luckily, we weren't going to the Dead Sea again!
I am now staying again at Rebecca's, probably for at least another week. I will continue to update as I go with my new adventures!
Day 27 - June 16, 2009
Since the end of the delegation I have been with Sascha, Gabriel, Michelle and Elias in the West Bank. Yesterday we traveled from Jaffa, where Elias lives, to Ramallah to meet with a friend of his that he hadn't seen in very long time. We then traveled to Tent of Nations where we are staying for two nights. Tent of Nations is a Christian Palestinian camp that promotes peace through non-violent resistance. The land is cultivated by a family that has been there since 1916 and luckily, unlike most Palestinians whose land claims were always through verbal agreements, have the papers to prove it and therefore have not been evicted (although the Israelis have tried, but Tent of Nations won the court battle). They are surrounded by three settlements, and their water and electricity have both been cut off, and the road leading up to their camp has been blocked by large boulders. These were all measures taken to pressure them into leaving after the Israeli government could not legally take their land. The tent that I was staying in technically has a demolition order - Dahoud, a brother in the family, paid $1000 to request a permit and was later denied.
Dahoud told us an amazing story of a woman from one of the neighbouring settlements. She was invited to a group event through a friend of hers who was visiting the country. While Dahoud was explaining the lack of water and electricity, she put up her hand to say something, and Dahoud expected a debate to ensue. Instead, she commented: "You don't have running water, and yet we have swimming pools?" This woman soon brought her husband down to visit the camp, and once made the long trek down (as the road is blocked, it is difficult to get to the camp) to say happy new year.
Dahoud explained some aspects of the West Bank to us that I had not previously well understood. The different laws that I spoke of earlier were clarified: the area is divided into three sections - Area A (completely Palestinian controlled), Area B (Palestinian civil control and Israeli military control) and Area C (completely Israeli controlled). One would think that Area A would be the majority, as the entire area is supposed to be Palestine. However, Area A only makes up 13% of the West Bank, Area C is 65%, with the remaining 22% being Area B. How is this a Palestinian territory?
Interestingly, a well, the Israeli government has had to change its tactics with the checkpoints. Earlier, soldiers were being placed at the same checkpoints for three to four weeks, but it became apparent that they were sometimes developing good relations, if not friendships, with the Palestinians. When there is interaction instead of segregation, "terrorists" suddenly become human. Now, soldiers are only stationed at checkpoints for two weeks or less.
Yesterday we went to Hebron, a city in the south of the West Bank and the site of the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre. In 1994, an Israeli-American named Baruch Goldstein entered the mosque and killed 39 Palestinians and wounded 125 during Ramadan prayers. Hebron is also a city strictly divided, containing some of the only Israeli settlements found within a Palestinian city (normally the settlements surround the Palestinians, disabling the cities or villages to grow). There is a street that cuts through the entire city that Palestinians are not permitted to walk or drive on, and therefore if they want to get to the other side of the city they have to go all the way to the outskirts of the city and go around the street. Hebron is also known for the nets that hang above Palestinian inhabited streets, as the Israelis who live above them throw garbage down onto the people.
I was able to take some amazing pictures of the graffiti on part of the separation wall today. I also got to graffiti myself! There were two guys there doing it, and I asked if I could as well! I wrote "Plant justice, harvest peace" which is one of my favourite sayings. I also wrote it right under a watch tower :) I will post pictures as soon as I can!
Day 25 - June 14, 2009
I spent the majority of the day on the beach in Tel Aviv - it's a rough life, I know! We went swimming a few times and relaxed, and I fell asleep for a few hours. We really needed a little R&R after the days we've been having.
The remaining Codepinkers who haven't left the country yet then headed down to Bar Ilan university where Netanyahu was presenting his speech in response to Obama's speech in Cairo. We set up shop in our pink t-shirts, pink banners and pink signs across from signs that read "Barack Hussein Obama: Anti-Semetic Jew Hater" and "Palestinian State = The Destruction of Israel." Immediately we had police officers surrounding us and barricades put up in front of us. While the other side eventually had barricades erected as well, the police consistently faced and monitored us.
The protest quickly grew violent as we were not permitted to beyond where the police seem to have haphazardly decided where we could go (the boundaries were rapidly changing). If we went somewhere where it was deemed we couldn't go, which was sometimes literally a few steps to the left or right, we would be pushed quite forcefully. There was one police officer that was most often the peretrator of these pushings. Eventually, the pushings subsided as they were attracting significant media attention and we were given a great space in which to roam. Don't worry, mom, I was never pushed :)
The protest continued and we had one incredible moment - a Palestinian family exiting the university joined us in our songs. It was beautiful. We would also sometimes get waves from people in cars passing by, surprisingly not all Palestinians. There was a man in the opposing protest who, throughout this moment and afterwards, got on the megaphone and started yelling "Mother f*ckers, piss on you" "Kikes" and "No peace now." It's important to understand that these were extrememely right wing individuals, some followers of Kach, and I don't believe to be representative of the majority of the Israeli population. But the juxtaposition against us singing "This little light of mine" in bright pink was quite astounding.
Again the protest continued into the evening. Peace Now, an Israeli peace group, soon joined us and tripled our numbers. Our photographer, with a valid press pass, had attempted to cross the street to take photos of us, however she was told she wasn't allowed to. She took off her pink shirt to try once more, and was arrested. This created an uproar among our group who ran to the barrier and began yelling "Let Flor go." This didn't last very long, however, as the police officer who was earlier pushing members of our group began pushing several very violently, and at some point amidst the scuffle one of our leaders, Tighe, was hit in the head with the butt of a rifle and left bleeding quite profusely on the ground. To make things worse, he had an asthma attack after being hit. An ambulance was called and he was rushed off with a neck brace, and later had a CT scan and spent the night in the hospital. There were several other members of the group with bruises and cuts.
And still, Flor was in a police car. We were told by the Codepink lawyer that they would more than likely wait for the protest to end and then let her go. However nearing the end of the portest they drove her away. We found out which police station she was going to and Sascha and I went to be with her, while others went to be with Tighe and others went back to the hostel to wait for updates. It took us about two hours to get to the station because of the difficulty of finding a taxi, however luckily when we did she had already been released. We met her back at the hostel and everyone, minus the few at the hospital, spent the night eating chinese food (the only thing open that late) and toasting to Flor's freedom. Tighe was eventually ok, as far as I had heard. What an incredibly emotionall draining day to end my final delegation.
Day 24 - June 13, 2009
We headed far up north today to the area of Galilee to meet with Dahoud Badr from the Association for the Defense of the Rights of Displaced Persons. On the way, however, some of the women from the Coalition of Women for Peace informed us more of the legal system that affects Palestinians in Israel and the West Bank. There are apparently many legal systems in play at once, and Israel will often apply the system that works best for them at any given time. There are two systems in the West Bank, one for Israeli settlers and one for the Palestinians - the Palestinians must always be subjected to Israeli military court, while Israelis have civilian court (and it must not be forgotten that it is against international law for the occupier to impose its laws in the occupied territory). Israel has technically been in a state of emergency since 1948, which means that the government can do whatever it wants to ensure "security" (for American readers, this would be like having the Patriot Act always in effect) - this is often the logic used for demolishing houses, imprisoning Palestinians, etc.
With the Association we toured villages that had been destroyed in the 1948 nakba. The first we visited, Al Ghabiya, was the home village of our tour guide Dahoud. He was born there in 1942, and the only building left standing was the mosque. The village was evicted in 1948, even though they had an agreement with Israeli forces that they could stay (the evicting force would later say that they didn't know of the agreement). They were allowed back in but evicted again in 1950 for "security purposes." The land was then confiscated in 1953 through the absentee law (if the rightful owners do not return to their land within three years, the state can take it - in this case, and in most confiscation cases of Palestinians, they are barred from returning to their land for this purpose). The village was completely destroyed in 1956 to ensure that the refugees could not return, however the mosque was not touched as a "democratic" state would not destroy a holy place. Some of the living villagers tried to start using the mosque again in 1995 even though it was very delapidated, and on January 1, 1996, Land Authority came and threw everything out of the mosque and arrested Dahoud for trespassing, even though his own community had built this mosque. It was then opened again for one year beginning May 1, 1996 until Sharon, the Minister of Infrastructure, ordered in closed. Today, it is completely barred up and surrounded by barbed wire to ensure that no one can enter. Dahoud told us that his community still holds the deeds to this land, and if they request it back they are ignored; if they are willing to sell it they are given its worth in 1948 currency, which is essentially nothing.
We then went to Al Bassa, where a friend of mine, Elias's family is originally from (he now lives in Jaffa). The church, shrine (where both Muslims and Christians worshipped together) and the mosque were destroyed because they were worship places for Palestinians. At that time, there were 2000 Christians and 1000 Muslims, which puts to rest this massacre simply being about the "war" against Islam.
Day 23 - June 12, 2009
Today we went to the Palestinian village of Bil'in. In 2005 a wall was built in the village separating the farmers (60% of the village's workforce) from their lands. 1000 olive trees were uprooted in order to build the wall. Permission is only given to the owners of the land to cross the fence - Abdullah, the coordinator of the local resistance committee to the wall and settlements, told us that his grandfather owns the land that his family harvests, however his grandfather died several years ago and his family is not permitted access to the land. The land has since been burned and destroyed in order to build an Israeli settlement. Interestingly, this settlement was not permitted by Israel, and is instead tied to a mafia group. Two CANADIAN companies, Greenpark and Greenmount, are currently illegally constructing the settlement (note for those who are looking for Canadian companies on which to put pressure and / or boycott). There is currently a court date set in Montreal on June 22, which some of the Palestinians we met are hoping to attend.
On September 4, 2007, the wall was deemed illegal by the Israeli supreme court and ordered to be moved back. To date, no action has been taken. Protests have taken place at the wall, encompassing Palestinians, Israelis, and internationals alike, every Friday since February 20 2005 (today's protest being number 225). Tear gas, "rubber bullets" (metal coated in rubber), and sand bags are used everytime. 1300 have been injured since the protests began, including Tristan Anderson, an ISM member who was shot in the head with a tear gas cannister a few months ago. Bassem Abu-Rahme, a local Palestinian resident, was killed in April when he was shot in the chest with a tear gas cannister close range while attempting to assist a French protester who had been injured. Tear gas cannisters are supposed to be shot away from the protesters, often upwind so that the gas goes towards them, however recently the IDF have been shooting them directly at the individuals, essentially rendering the cannisters as massive bullets. When not protesting, the participants often beaten in their homes, sometimes infront of their families, as well as threatened with death, their family's death, or with the burning of their homes. And yet every week they return to ask for permission to cross the fence to land that is rightfully theirs.
On September 4, 2007, the wall was deemed illegal by the Israeli supreme court and ordered to be moved back. To date, no action has been taken. Protests have taken place at the wall, encompassing Palestinians, Israelis, and internationals alike, every Friday since February 20 2005 (today's protest being number 225). Tear gas, "rubber bullets" (metal coated in rubber), and sand bags are used everytime. 1300 have been injured since the protests began, including Tristan Anderson, an ISM member who was shot in the head with a tear gas cannister a few months ago. Bassem Abu-Rahme, a local Palestinian resident, was killed in April when he was shot in the chest with a tear gas cannister close range while attempting to assist a French protester who had been injured. Tear gas cannisters are supposed to be shot away from the protesters, often upwind so that the gas goes towards them, however recently the IDF have been shooting them directly at the individuals, essentially rendering the cannisters as massive bullets. When not protesting, the participants often beaten in their homes, sometimes infront of their families, as well as threatened with death, their family's death, or with the burning of their homes. And yet every week they return to ask for permission to cross the fence to land that is rightfully theirs.
Day 22 - June 11, 2009
Today was a great day - it was one of our only days off, so I slept in until noon! At four we headed to Tel-Aviv to see Seven Jewish Children - what a moving play. If you can, look it up on youtube, it's only about 20 minutes long. It was performed in the street so we had a variety of audience members, some of whom were infuriated and some of whom were moved to tears. We then did an impromptu small protest downtown, and what amazed me was not the objections that we received, as they were to be expected - it was the amount of support that was so clearly evident. We had an Israeli woman and her young child join our march, and we got thumbs ups and peace signs (among other hand signs) from onlookers. It has struck me recently how not all Israelis are supportive of this apartheid regime - many are ill-informed and unaware, and a growing number are against it. Tonight my hope for change was truly renewed.
Day 21 - June 10, 2009
We first headed to Bethlehem today to meet with some individuals from the Alternative Information Centre. This was the first time that I had witnessed the infamous Israeli settlements and was astonished by what I saw. They were beautiful buildings, royal-esque in their features, atop hilltops above the dilapidated Palestinian homes. The settlements are generally built on hills leaving their sewage runoff to culminate in the Palestinian villages.
First we met with Dr. Elias Rishmawi, a city council member. He was the first to tell us of the "mini Gazas" that are being created all over the West Bank and East Jerusalem, one of which we would see later in the day. We learned that of the 10 million Palestinians in the world, 6 million are refugees, and that Israel has complete control over the water aquifers in the West Bank and traps water from getting into the Gazan aquifers, which leaves Palestinians with no control over their own water sources, as is the case with most if not all utilities.
We then went of a tour of East Jerusalem and first saw a building site that is to be the home of the Museum of Tolerance. While this may sound great, the ground is currently undergoing the excavation of an ancient Muslim cemetary in order to build the museum. Irony, anyone? We then learned that the Israeli government does not issue building permits to residents of East Jerusalem (which is the supposedly Palestinian portion of the city) and therefore buildings can be demolished at any time. The purported plan is to have all Palestinians out of East Jerusalem by 2020 to the other side of the wall (into the West Bank, mostly) or to Jordan.
We then saw Shafat Camp, which is one of the "mini Gazas" we learned about earlier. It is surrounded by walls except for the one gate out to Jerusalem, and its buildings are not regulated and therefore all construction is illegal and often haphazard and very unsafe. It has 20000 - 50000 inhabitants, depending on who you ask. The residents pay the highest taxes (tax rates are dependent on your area, with more wealthy areas supposedly paying more), and yet receive absolutely no services - there is no garbage pickup, no police services, and the sewage outlets have been closed up thereby keeping all sewage inside the walls. ID must be presented everytime one leaves the gate, and if someone tries to leave who hasn't paid their incredibly high taxes, they are jailed until someone pays the taxes for them. There are currently five such communities in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Our day ended with a meeting with Jeff Halper from ICAHD - it was like meeting a celebrity, I was so excited. According to Jeff, there are currently 22000 outstanding demolition orders in East Jerusalem, or one third of Palestinian homes. He told us a current project of Beit Arabia, wherein a woman's home had been demolished four times and rebuilt each time. According to international law, an occupying force has no right to extend its law into the occupied territory (such as controlling building permits, demolishing buildings, etc) however Israel does this everyday in the West Bank.
Tonight and tomorrow night I'm staying with Rebecca, a young woman that I met in Cairo through a friend in the student delegation to Gaza. She had myself, Gabriel and Sascha over for an amazing vegan dinner and then - wait for it - I did LAUNDRY! It was a pretty awesome night!
First we met with Dr. Elias Rishmawi, a city council member. He was the first to tell us of the "mini Gazas" that are being created all over the West Bank and East Jerusalem, one of which we would see later in the day. We learned that of the 10 million Palestinians in the world, 6 million are refugees, and that Israel has complete control over the water aquifers in the West Bank and traps water from getting into the Gazan aquifers, which leaves Palestinians with no control over their own water sources, as is the case with most if not all utilities.
We then went of a tour of East Jerusalem and first saw a building site that is to be the home of the Museum of Tolerance. While this may sound great, the ground is currently undergoing the excavation of an ancient Muslim cemetary in order to build the museum. Irony, anyone? We then learned that the Israeli government does not issue building permits to residents of East Jerusalem (which is the supposedly Palestinian portion of the city) and therefore buildings can be demolished at any time. The purported plan is to have all Palestinians out of East Jerusalem by 2020 to the other side of the wall (into the West Bank, mostly) or to Jordan.
We then saw Shafat Camp, which is one of the "mini Gazas" we learned about earlier. It is surrounded by walls except for the one gate out to Jerusalem, and its buildings are not regulated and therefore all construction is illegal and often haphazard and very unsafe. It has 20000 - 50000 inhabitants, depending on who you ask. The residents pay the highest taxes (tax rates are dependent on your area, with more wealthy areas supposedly paying more), and yet receive absolutely no services - there is no garbage pickup, no police services, and the sewage outlets have been closed up thereby keeping all sewage inside the walls. ID must be presented everytime one leaves the gate, and if someone tries to leave who hasn't paid their incredibly high taxes, they are jailed until someone pays the taxes for them. There are currently five such communities in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Our day ended with a meeting with Jeff Halper from ICAHD - it was like meeting a celebrity, I was so excited. According to Jeff, there are currently 22000 outstanding demolition orders in East Jerusalem, or one third of Palestinian homes. He told us a current project of Beit Arabia, wherein a woman's home had been demolished four times and rebuilt each time. According to international law, an occupying force has no right to extend its law into the occupied territory (such as controlling building permits, demolishing buildings, etc) however Israel does this everyday in the West Bank.
Tonight and tomorrow night I'm staying with Rebecca, a young woman that I met in Cairo through a friend in the student delegation to Gaza. She had myself, Gabriel and Sascha over for an amazing vegan dinner and then - wait for it - I did LAUNDRY! It was a pretty awesome night!
Day 19 - June 8, 2009
Last night after I posted some of us went to Siderot which is a small town near Gaza that has experienced a disproportionate amount of bombing by Palestinians. There was a film festival showing Afghan Star, a very popular show in the Arab world, and we were given the option to see the movie or talk to people in the town about their thoughts and opinions. Gabriel and I had planned see the first few minutes of the movie to see if we would like it (expecting we wouldn't) and then wander around town, but we quickly found out why that show has been such a success and ended up staying for the entire thing. Fascinating!
Today we went to Erez again and brought "contraband" (ie. semame seeds, matches, chocolate, paper, etc) and set up a theatrical protest where we had a fake wall where we brought the contraband and dug tunnels to get it all underneath. I was a Gazan prisoner (as we all know that Gaza is the world's largest prison). We took our passports to the guard again but were promptly denied. A few individuals took our names to Tel-Aviv to officially request entry to Gaza through Eres but we were denied visas.
We then took the protest to Karni, another border that is only for the entry of the 40 products that are allowed into Gaza (Erez is for people, which begs the question as to why it exists). We tied balloons and put the products we brought on the fence and set up the playground - it was really fun.
We came back and after a lovely vegan lunch (although I'm really missing cheese right now) we met with a woman who taught us about boycotts, divestments and sanctions. The group's website is www.whoprofits.org. We talked a lot about the exploitation of Palestinian workers, who by law have the same labour laws as Israelis, which is a relatively new law and rarely enforced. We also discussed the fact that many Israeli companies are joint companies with the US so that they can hide the fact that they are Israeli, and that security is the most profitable industry in Israel. She suggested that divestments are actually more practical for Canadians and North Americans as Israel doesn't actually export a lot of products to North America. We also learned about Violia, a French company who recently dropped a contract to build a light rail system in Jerusalem because of international pressures.
Later in the evening we met with five refusenik women who are all around 18 and were part of the twelfth grade letter movement, wherein they write letters on their graduation to the Ministry of Defense and the Prime Minister saying that they are refusing to participate in an army that commits war crimes. Two have spent time in jail and risk spending more time in jail, as each time they are released they are expected to join the army and can be arrested and charged each time they refuse, without a maximum. One claimed mental health issues (which can affect her future abilities to get jobs as she is labelled as mentally unfit), and one is taking a year off and will be refusing this year. There are two options if someone wants to avoid jail: they can claim mental health issues, wherein they have to be deemed mentally unfit by a doctor hired by the army, or they have to go in front of a panel and claim conscientious objection. The women said that the panel is basically a token institution as unless you say exactly what they want to hear and what they deem to be pacifism, you will be denied conscientious objector status. The two women who went to jail tried this route first but were denied - the one who claimed mental health issues essentially had to lie. One of the women who went to jail was very to the IDF about her objection to the occupation, as she feels that the crimes being committed there must be brought to light and will use her going to jail to do so. We also found out that suicide is the number one cause of death in the IDF, and of people ages 18 to 21 in Israel. I felt very honoured to have met these women.
Today we went to Erez again and brought "contraband" (ie. semame seeds, matches, chocolate, paper, etc) and set up a theatrical protest where we had a fake wall where we brought the contraband and dug tunnels to get it all underneath. I was a Gazan prisoner (as we all know that Gaza is the world's largest prison). We took our passports to the guard again but were promptly denied. A few individuals took our names to Tel-Aviv to officially request entry to Gaza through Eres but we were denied visas.
We then took the protest to Karni, another border that is only for the entry of the 40 products that are allowed into Gaza (Erez is for people, which begs the question as to why it exists). We tied balloons and put the products we brought on the fence and set up the playground - it was really fun.
We came back and after a lovely vegan lunch (although I'm really missing cheese right now) we met with a woman who taught us about boycotts, divestments and sanctions. The group's website is www.whoprofits.org. We talked a lot about the exploitation of Palestinian workers, who by law have the same labour laws as Israelis, which is a relatively new law and rarely enforced. We also discussed the fact that many Israeli companies are joint companies with the US so that they can hide the fact that they are Israeli, and that security is the most profitable industry in Israel. She suggested that divestments are actually more practical for Canadians and North Americans as Israel doesn't actually export a lot of products to North America. We also learned about Violia, a French company who recently dropped a contract to build a light rail system in Jerusalem because of international pressures.
Later in the evening we met with five refusenik women who are all around 18 and were part of the twelfth grade letter movement, wherein they write letters on their graduation to the Ministry of Defense and the Prime Minister saying that they are refusing to participate in an army that commits war crimes. Two have spent time in jail and risk spending more time in jail, as each time they are released they are expected to join the army and can be arrested and charged each time they refuse, without a maximum. One claimed mental health issues (which can affect her future abilities to get jobs as she is labelled as mentally unfit), and one is taking a year off and will be refusing this year. There are two options if someone wants to avoid jail: they can claim mental health issues, wherein they have to be deemed mentally unfit by a doctor hired by the army, or they have to go in front of a panel and claim conscientious objection. The women said that the panel is basically a token institution as unless you say exactly what they want to hear and what they deem to be pacifism, you will be denied conscientious objector status. The two women who went to jail tried this route first but were denied - the one who claimed mental health issues essentially had to lie. One of the women who went to jail was very to the IDF about her objection to the occupation, as she feels that the crimes being committed there must be brought to light and will use her going to jail to do so. We also found out that suicide is the number one cause of death in the IDF, and of people ages 18 to 21 in Israel. I felt very honoured to have met these women.
Check out the new delegation as we go!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/codepinkalert/
And if you have a flickr account, join this group to see other photos:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/codepinkisraelgazadelegation/pool/
And if you have a flickr account, join this group to see other photos:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/codepinkisraelgazadelegation/pool/
Day 18 - June 7, 2009
We woke up bright and early and had vegan food for breakfast, which is all we'll be eating at the farm, and I love it. We headed to the Erez border and promptly got out of the bus - Patch did a great speech and then headed to the patrol station with all of our passports (he was fully in character, including a chicken on his head and a rubber fish in his hand). I have a video of the whole thing which I'm going to upload as soon as possible because I really can't describe the experience well enough. We had a samba band with us (most of whom are refuseniks) and four clowns from a group in Tel-Aviv dressed up in IDF-type costumes. The playground was quickly assembled and kites were soon in the sky. Patch made good friends with Ronnie, a border patrol officer, and we actually saw smiles on IDF faces!
It was overall a huge celebration and a ton of fun. We were eventually given back our passports and told we weren't getting in (which we very much expected), which prompted Patch to start a poker game with them (I wasn't quite sure how that worked, but it seemed to be quite popular, even with the border guards). After two hours, though, the IDF got agitated and came out in full force, huge rifles and gear and all - apparently clowns and women dressed in pink are very threatening. They forcefully put the clowns in the bus and took the mallets away from the drummers, and I still have yet to find out what happened to our playground. There was a really heated coversation between and IDF solider and one of the drummers, where the drummer was telling him that every solider plays a part in murder - apparently he didn't like that very much.
Back to the farm where we had a great lunch and then had two seminars, although I completely slept through the first one by accident. The one I did go to was about the boycotting of Israel, and I will hopefully soon post some websites that have more details.
I will be with this group for at least the next few days so I will continue to update as often as I can. There is a bit more free time here and more laptops to borrow so it seems possible :) And if anyone is interested, there is another convoy in early July with Galloway going through Rafah that I may attend, if anyone wants to join!
It was overall a huge celebration and a ton of fun. We were eventually given back our passports and told we weren't getting in (which we very much expected), which prompted Patch to start a poker game with them (I wasn't quite sure how that worked, but it seemed to be quite popular, even with the border guards). After two hours, though, the IDF got agitated and came out in full force, huge rifles and gear and all - apparently clowns and women dressed in pink are very threatening. They forcefully put the clowns in the bus and took the mallets away from the drummers, and I still have yet to find out what happened to our playground. There was a really heated coversation between and IDF solider and one of the drummers, where the drummer was telling him that every solider plays a part in murder - apparently he didn't like that very much.
Back to the farm where we had a great lunch and then had two seminars, although I completely slept through the first one by accident. The one I did go to was about the boycotting of Israel, and I will hopefully soon post some websites that have more details.
I will be with this group for at least the next few days so I will continue to update as often as I can. There is a bit more free time here and more laptops to borrow so it seems possible :) And if anyone is interested, there is another convoy in early July with Galloway going through Rafah that I may attend, if anyone wants to join!
Day 17 - June 6, 2009
Again I apaologize for the lack of updates. We were able to get out of Gaza without any issues, and I spent the next few days in a houseboat on the Nile. I know, it was amazing. Jen, Luke, Nathaniel, Wolf and I were staying there as the guys had lived there and were crashing for a few days with the new tenants. We soon found out at that Sarah, an incredible British filmmaker who we had seen at the border with the Project Hope convoy but who was turned back in the terminal, was staying in the houseboat next to us, so over the few days we spent a lot of time with her. I saw the museum and the mummies - creepy but cool things. I unfortunately never got around to seeing the pyramids, I don't really know why, I guess I preferred to stick with as much non-tourist activities as possible. We got together with the students from the group on the second and had a really great time. I'm really missing Gaza though, and am frustrated at how close it is and yet how inaccessible it remains.
I spent a day in Dahab after Cairo with Jen, Luke and their two upstairs neighbours. What a beautiful little place. I went snorkeling for the first time and saw coral and beautiful fish. I think I also swallowed half of the red sea.
Yesterday, after Dahab, I headed to Taba to cross the border into Israel. The plan was to meet three of the other students in Jerusalem and spend some time in the West Bank. However, when I got there I was promptly told to go to a special area because they needed to do some "investigating." I was then interrogated by a not so nice police officer who wanted to know everything about what I did in Gaza and what I was planning to do in Israel (this interrogation was expected because of the Rafah stamp on my passport). So I told her as much as I could, not offering any more than requested but being truthful. I then had to wait outside for a while, and was called back in and told that they knew why I was here, that I was going to a Codepink demonstration in Tel-Aviv. I actually had no idea what she was talking about, but when I told her that she insisted that I was lying. I even pulled up my hostel reservations in Jerusalem for the next two nights, but that apparently wasn't good enough. I then had to go out and wait for a few more hours. Luckily, they had really good food at this terminal.
Eventually I was called back into the police officer's office and handed a form that said that I would not enter a Palestinian territory while in Israel without the permission of the Israeli army. I was furious, but did a good job at holding it together. I told her that my full intention was to spend a lot of time in the West Bank, and asked whether or not there was any way around it. This was actually a different officer from before, and this one was a bit nicer and called the Ministry of Interior to find out. Again, I had to wait.
I used this next little while to start making phone calls. I called a friend who told me that the American Codepink group leaders were coming through Taba today and that I should call them. As luck would have it, her phone died before she could give me the number. I called my mom to see if she had Sandra's Toronto number, which she didn't, but she soon texted me a number of a Codepink woman in Israel. I soon found out that my mom went home, called some random Codepink person in the states who then gave her the Israel number. I also apparently worried her so much that she came home from work pretty upset... I guess I would be too if my daughter was crazy enough to try to cross the Israel border with a Gaza stamp on her passport, alone.
Finally, through the woman in Israel, I got the number of Medea, who said that they had just gotten into Taba and to wait until she got there. I actually didn't up seeing her or Tighe for a while because they had two extensive searchings of their bags, which contained some exceptionally, let's say, provocative material that wouldn't be welcomed in Israel. But I met with Ann, Annie, Pam and Billy while we waited for the other two, and it was quite comforting to be with others who understood my predicament, as they were all being interrogated as well.
I was eventually told that there was no way out of signing the paper if I wanted into Israel, and if I didn't sign it I couldn't get in. They wouldn't tell me why I had to sign it (as the three students who had gone through the border earlier didn't have to). I decided not to sign it until I found out if my new partners in crime were getting in. They went through their interrogations with yet another police officer, this one significantly more mean that the first two. She asked them if they believed in God, and told Pam that unitarian wasn't a a real religion, and Billy that he had to choose a religion since he said he didn't have one. Quite the interesting time.
13 hours later, we were all in. We skyped, got really good free food, and saw a beautiful sunset over Israel, Jordan and Egypt while waiting - who would have thought the border could be so frustrating and so much fun at the same time?
The 30 or so other delegates arrived from Tel-Aviv late in the evening where they had participated in a demonstration. Patch Adams and other clowns are leading the way, and it's so much fun. Did I also mention that I met Norman Finkelstein on my last day in Gaza? Who would have known I would meet so many celebrities!
I spent a day in Dahab after Cairo with Jen, Luke and their two upstairs neighbours. What a beautiful little place. I went snorkeling for the first time and saw coral and beautiful fish. I think I also swallowed half of the red sea.
Yesterday, after Dahab, I headed to Taba to cross the border into Israel. The plan was to meet three of the other students in Jerusalem and spend some time in the West Bank. However, when I got there I was promptly told to go to a special area because they needed to do some "investigating." I was then interrogated by a not so nice police officer who wanted to know everything about what I did in Gaza and what I was planning to do in Israel (this interrogation was expected because of the Rafah stamp on my passport). So I told her as much as I could, not offering any more than requested but being truthful. I then had to wait outside for a while, and was called back in and told that they knew why I was here, that I was going to a Codepink demonstration in Tel-Aviv. I actually had no idea what she was talking about, but when I told her that she insisted that I was lying. I even pulled up my hostel reservations in Jerusalem for the next two nights, but that apparently wasn't good enough. I then had to go out and wait for a few more hours. Luckily, they had really good food at this terminal.
Eventually I was called back into the police officer's office and handed a form that said that I would not enter a Palestinian territory while in Israel without the permission of the Israeli army. I was furious, but did a good job at holding it together. I told her that my full intention was to spend a lot of time in the West Bank, and asked whether or not there was any way around it. This was actually a different officer from before, and this one was a bit nicer and called the Ministry of Interior to find out. Again, I had to wait.
I used this next little while to start making phone calls. I called a friend who told me that the American Codepink group leaders were coming through Taba today and that I should call them. As luck would have it, her phone died before she could give me the number. I called my mom to see if she had Sandra's Toronto number, which she didn't, but she soon texted me a number of a Codepink woman in Israel. I soon found out that my mom went home, called some random Codepink person in the states who then gave her the Israel number. I also apparently worried her so much that she came home from work pretty upset... I guess I would be too if my daughter was crazy enough to try to cross the Israel border with a Gaza stamp on her passport, alone.
Finally, through the woman in Israel, I got the number of Medea, who said that they had just gotten into Taba and to wait until she got there. I actually didn't up seeing her or Tighe for a while because they had two extensive searchings of their bags, which contained some exceptionally, let's say, provocative material that wouldn't be welcomed in Israel. But I met with Ann, Annie, Pam and Billy while we waited for the other two, and it was quite comforting to be with others who understood my predicament, as they were all being interrogated as well.
I was eventually told that there was no way out of signing the paper if I wanted into Israel, and if I didn't sign it I couldn't get in. They wouldn't tell me why I had to sign it (as the three students who had gone through the border earlier didn't have to). I decided not to sign it until I found out if my new partners in crime were getting in. They went through their interrogations with yet another police officer, this one significantly more mean that the first two. She asked them if they believed in God, and told Pam that unitarian wasn't a a real religion, and Billy that he had to choose a religion since he said he didn't have one. Quite the interesting time.
13 hours later, we were all in. We skyped, got really good free food, and saw a beautiful sunset over Israel, Jordan and Egypt while waiting - who would have thought the border could be so frustrating and so much fun at the same time?
The 30 or so other delegates arrived from Tel-Aviv late in the evening where they had participated in a demonstration. Patch Adams and other clowns are leading the way, and it's so much fun. Did I also mention that I met Norman Finkelstein on my last day in Gaza? Who would have known I would meet so many celebrities!
Day 11 - May 31, 2009
Our last full day in Gaza began with a meeting with Sami Abedel Shafi, a journalist and an employee at the Carter Centre which works for Palestinian unification. He blames the the extremist views which have been developed within some groups in Gaza on the lack of dialogue between all parties involved. He believes that the conflict would be much more moderate if Hamas hadn't been boycotted, and pointed out that no one is going to be willing to compromise when the other party won't even talk to them. Sami said that in his view, the beginning of the solution is to talk to Hamas, not to continue to alienate the people and impose a siege. He said that there is a growing consensus in Gaza against the use of rockets, but that for as long as people are oppressed and deprived of the necessities of life, one can expect little other than militancy.
Our next excursion was to the Samooni family, which I had met once before. I was very hesistant to go as this was probably the hardest thing I have seen thus far. I learned more about them though - all the brothers and their families live in the same area, and of 23 houses in this area, only one was left standing, because the Israelis used it as an outpost (this was also the house where all the writing on the wall was found). I later got to go to the upstairs in the house where I hadn't been before, which had been burnt by white phosphorus and there had been a hole carved out in the wall where the snipers would sit. I also saw a new writing which I hadn't been able to read before, which said "this is written in blood, when he fell down the stairs." Beside it was some sort of symbol, which was clearly written in blood and had since dried to a brownish color.
The rest of the day was bittersweet, we prepared to leave but didn't want to. We had a bit of a party with all the youth we had met at a coffee shop overlooking the ocean, where we sang Backstreet Boys, a few songs in Arabic, and a few other randoms. A man at the shop told me that I had the most beautiful hair he had ever seen, but that he never sees much hair - I think that was a compliment? Afterwards in the late evening, a few of us went to a beautiful cafe on the beach and smoked our last sheesha in Gaza (we had planned to go swimming but I wasn't permitted to as a lone female with men). I'm going to miss this place!
Our next excursion was to the Samooni family, which I had met once before. I was very hesistant to go as this was probably the hardest thing I have seen thus far. I learned more about them though - all the brothers and their families live in the same area, and of 23 houses in this area, only one was left standing, because the Israelis used it as an outpost (this was also the house where all the writing on the wall was found). I later got to go to the upstairs in the house where I hadn't been before, which had been burnt by white phosphorus and there had been a hole carved out in the wall where the snipers would sit. I also saw a new writing which I hadn't been able to read before, which said "this is written in blood, when he fell down the stairs." Beside it was some sort of symbol, which was clearly written in blood and had since dried to a brownish color.
The rest of the day was bittersweet, we prepared to leave but didn't want to. We had a bit of a party with all the youth we had met at a coffee shop overlooking the ocean, where we sang Backstreet Boys, a few songs in Arabic, and a few other randoms. A man at the shop told me that I had the most beautiful hair he had ever seen, but that he never sees much hair - I think that was a compliment? Afterwards in the late evening, a few of us went to a beautiful cafe on the beach and smoked our last sheesha in Gaza (we had planned to go swimming but I wasn't permitted to as a lone female with men). I'm going to miss this place!
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